The Turkeys' Escape
The turkeys of Jack's farm weren't afraid of anything, but if there was one thing they were afraid of, it was being cooked for dinner, especially on Thanksgiving, their least favorite day of the year. The leader of the turkey pack, Gary Gobble, wanted to put a stop to having his comrades killed and eaten every year. Each year on Thanksgiving, he saw other turkeys being cut, slashed, and carved up. It was truly horrifying to him, because if there was one thing he disliked, it was seeing his feathered friends being killed and eaten by humans. It wasn't fair to him that humans would do this to turkeys like him, and he had seen many other turkeys he knew being chopped up and roasted every year. One fine autumn day in November, Farmer Jack fed his turkeys more food than usual, but most of the turkeys, including Gary, didn't touch the extra food that Farmer Jack gave them, because they knew something was up. "I really hope today isn't our day of judgement," said Lee. "If it is, then I fear we're going to be stuffed and served." "Lucille, can you please check the calendar?" asked Gary. "We need to see what today is." Lucille trotted over to the calendar to take a look. As she looked through the days, she saw a red circle on the calendar. "Today is Thursday, November 24," said Lucille. All the turkeys' beaks dropped open in shock. "Oh no!" cried Gary. "It's Thanksgiving! Farmer Jack's gonna chop us up and roast us for dinner! He's gonna cut off our heads and baste our behinds!" "Yikes!" said Steve. "I don't wanna be cooked, seasoned, and eaten up by hungry humans!" "Neither do any of us, Steve," said Lucille. "We need to do something to save ourselves from being cooked and eaten. We have to find a way to hide and escape from the farmer's evil axe." Some of the turkeys trembled with fear, remembering how horrible it was seeing the farmer chop off the heads of some of their fellow turkeys and cook them for dinner. They all knew that they needed to get out of the farm to avoid being chopped up, and fast. With his quick thinking, Gary immediately thought of a plan to escape. "Here's the plan," said Gary. "We'll try to trick Farmer Jack into thinking that we're not turkeys, so we can avoid having our heads chopped off by that dreaded axe and survive this year's Thanksgiving. Lucille, pretend to be a flamingo. Steve, pretend to be a duck. The rest of you will pretend to be cows, horses, or other farm animals. If that doesn't work, pretend to be one of those delivery people and call Farmer Jack on the phone to ask if he's ordered anything. That'll leave him fooled for sure. Then we'll find a way to get out of here. Are you all with me?" All the turkeys looked at each other and nodded. "We're in," said Natasha. "We're ready to escape the clutches of the terrible farmer who sacrifices us just to serve us in dinner plates." Sure enough, the turkeys saw Farmer Jack coming with an axe. "The farmer's coming!" shouted Tony. "And he's got his axe! Quick! We gotta hide from him!" So, as Farmer Jack finished sharpening his axe on the grindstone, all the turkeys quickly dashed out of their pen, which, thank goodness, was unlocked. Then they all scattered in different directions so that they would be harder for Farmer Jack to catch. Tony, Lee, Wendy, James, Eve, and Natasha hid behind a few haystacks in front of the cow pen. Then they painted some black dots on their feathers so they would look like some of Farmer Jack's Holstein cows. When Farmer Jack arrived, he thought he was sure that he saw six turkeys running to the cow pasture. "Where are those turkeys?" Farmer Jack wondered aloud. He didn't hear any gobbling. He just heard the sound of mooing. "That's strange," thought Farmer Jack. "I must have just been seeing things. I only hear a bunch of cows." Steve ran and dove into the duck pond. Unlike the other turkeys, he was able to swim, and he learned to swim by watching the ducks. As Farmer Jack approached, Steve swam to a corner to hide. "Where is that turkey?" asked Farmer Jack to himself. He didn't hear any gobbling. He just heard a quack. "That's odd," he thought. "That sounded more like a duck than a turkey." Lucille stepped into the pond and lifted up one of her legs like a flamingo. She knew that this wasn't a smart idea, because there weren't any flamingoes on the farm, but she knew it would fool the farmer for sure. Suddenly, she heard the sound of Farmer Jack's footsteps coming towards her. Luckily, he didn't see her. "Okay, turkey!" called Farmer Jack. "I know you and your friends are hiding somewhere. Come out of here!" But he only heard the honking that was coming from what might have been a flamingo. Carlton ran and hid in Farmer Jack's dog's doghouse. He snatched the dog's collar and put it around his neck. "Where is that turkey?" He didn't hear any gobbling. He just heard a bark. "Huh?" thought Farmer Jack. "That's very strange. It's sure funny how my turkeys are disappearing on me." Roscoe dashed into the farmhouse, where he knew Farmer Jack would have trouble finding him. As soon as Farmer Jack wasn't looking, Roscoe cautiously went down the crawlspace in the ground and crawled through it. "Darn it!" said Farmer Jack. "Where is that turkey?" Roscoe was able to crawl out of the farmhouse through the crawl space without Farmer Jack noticing. It didn't smell very delightful and it was very small and tight, but Roscoe knew it was worth escaping the farmer's awful axe. Chris painted spots on his body and scurried up a nearby tree, where he knew Farmer Jack couldn't see him. "Where is that turkey?" He didn't hear any gobbling. He just heard hooting. "That's strange..." thought Farmer Jack. "For a second I thought I heard a spotted owl." As Farmer Jack left, Chris climbed down the tree and thought to himself, "Wow, I sure tricked that farmer with my impersonation of an endangered spotted owl." Stan grabbed a shovel and dug a hole in the ground, shaping it to look like a gopher had dug it. As soon as he heard Farmer Jack coming, he leaped into it, knowing that it would fool him into thinking that turkeys could hide in gopher holes. "You're a gone gander, turkey!" called Farmer Jack. "Come on out so I can prepare you for a nice dinner tonight!" He saw some tracks that one of his turkeys left behind, which led to a gopher hole. This made Farmer Jack very confused. "A turkey's tracks that go down a gopher hole?" he thought. "A turkey can't go down a little hole like that. It's impossible!" As soon as Farmer Jack left, Stan popped out of the hole, knowing that he had fooled that silly farmer with his plan. Vincent and Hollie ran and hid in a few nearby bushes, where the knew the farmer would have trouble seeing them. "Where, oh, where are those turkeys?" thought Farmer Jack. "They've got to be hiding from me somewhere." Just then, he heard gobbling coming from the bushes. As he looked through the bushes, there wasn't a single turkey in sight. Suddenly, he saw something that looked like a turkey's feathers sticking out from behind a log. He reached out and grabbed it, but then he realized that it was just a paper fan that looked like a turkey's feathers. "What the-?!" thought Farmer Jack. "I've been gypped! Those turkeys think they're so clever. I'm still not gonna fall for their tricks. I'll find them and get them prepared for a Thanksgiving meal in no time!" Knowing that his comrades had already taken some of the good hiding spots, Gary ran and hid behind a big tree, where he knew Farmer Jack wouldn't find him. "Come on out, turkey!" called Farmer Jack. "I'm not going to eat you or your friends. I just want to give you to some townspeople who, um, want a pet turkey!" "Yeah, right," thought Gary. "He's just lying. I'm not going to fall for what he says. I'm going to escape the clutches of his evil axe." As soon as Farmer Jack left, Gary ran back to the turkey pen to meet up with the other turkeys so they could finish their escape plan. Meanwhile, Farmer Jack was thinking to himself about how his turkeys were becoming harder to find. "Hmph!" said Farmer Jack. "I prep my turkeys by feeding them extra dinner last night, and now they're all hiding from me just as I'm getting ready to stuff and serve them. I guess they don't want to be eaten this year. I know they're hiding from me. Where could those silly turkeys be? No turkey can make a loon out of me. I know they are hiding somewhere." Little did he know that all the turkeys were back in their pen, getting ready to skedaddle. They knew it was time to flee the farm, because the horrible farmer had been holding them captive for far too long, and his only intention was to cook them for dinner. It was time to run for their lives. As the turkeys put on their running shoes and gathered around the gate of their pen, Gary quickly wrote a note to Farmer Jack. "Okay, everyone, now is the time we make a run for it," said Gary. "When Farmer Jack opens the gate, it's every turkey for themselves." Just then, Farmer Jack walked over to the turkey pen, not noticing that his turkeys were all back where they were supposed to be. As soon as he opened the gate, all the turkeys ran out, trampling him over. As he got up, he saw that the turkey pen was completely empty, with the only thing left being a note that said "Happy Thanksgiving, Farmer Dork! This year, just order a pizza!" He turned around and saw all of his turkeys running out of the farm and heard their gobbling becoming more faint as they ran. For a second, he was sure that he also saw one of those turkeys stealing his motorbike. He never saw them again. Farmer Jack was foolish enough to think that everyone ate turkeys for Thanksgiving. Little did he know that many people ate a few things besides turkey. He realized that some innocent birds don't want to be killed and cooked for dinner. With this knowledge, he has never killed or eaten a single turkey again. Category:Stories Category:Short Stories